Post-Meeting Memo: BHEF Member Meeting (Summer 2010)

Meeting Overview and Takeaways

BHEF members convened June 24-25 for BHEF's 2010 summer meeting at The Fairfax at Embassy Row in Washington, DC. This meeting advanced BHEF's strategic direction and advocacy agenda (March 19 memo). Key components of the conversation will continue at the BHEF 2011 Winter Meeting, to be hosted by member Lew Hay, III, chairman and CEO of NextEraEnergy, February 3-4 in Juno Beach, FL.

The summer meeting brought BHEF members together with key policy makers to provide insights and catalyze action on BHEF's key advocacy priorities, including advancing the college- and work-ready Common Core State Standards, and the reauthorization of two comprehensive bills—the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), and The America COMPETES Act (COMPETES). Featured speakers from the Obama administration and the National Governors Association focused their comments on these priorities and provoked a wide-ranging discussion among BHEF members and guests.

Reflecting BHEF's commitment to it advocacy agenda, the BHEF Executive Committee, during its June 24 meeting, approved a letter to the Senate leadership urging swift approval of its COMPETES reauthorization bill, and encouraged the Senate to maintain the goal of the original 2007 bill to double research funding for Department of Education's (DOE), National Science Foundation (NSF), and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)—and to strengthen STEM education provisions for the entire P-20 education pipeline.

At both the Executive Committee meeting and the Business Meeting of the full membership (see below), members engaged in a discussion regarding BHEF's successes, such as higher visibility with the White House and the corporate community; opportunities, such as leveraging the STEM modeling work and creating new momentum in the STEM Initiative; and challenges, such as membership growth.

Key Takeaways:

The College Readiness, Access, and Success initiative and the STEM initiative position BHEF to make significant contributions to the reauthorization of two critical bills: ESEA and COMPETES, both of which passed with broad bipartisan support in the last decade.
While the college- and work-ready common core standards have already been adopted by many states, BHEF members should continue to encourage adoption by the remaining states; support states and districts in the implementation of new curricula and assessments, in part through BHEF projects like those in Louisville and Des Moines; and support the development of science standards.
The administration's priorities, including Race to the Top and the Investing in Innovation Fund, serve as a template for reauthorization of ESEA. In order to ensure ESEA is reauthorized this year, however, BHEF will join other organizations to advocate for passage of a college and career-ready version of ESEA that incorporates new standards and assessments, and includes science as a central part of its accountability measurements.
Future U.S. competitiveness and sustainability is critically linked to support for R&D and STEM education, including programs carried out by DOE, NSF, NIST and numerous other federal agencies.
The reauthorization of the America COMPETES Act will be critical to ensuring continued U.S. leadership in these vital the STEM fields.

Opening Discussion

The morning of June 25 kicked off with an opening discussion with American Council on Education President Molly Corbett Broad and National Governors Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices Director Dane Linn that was moderated by The California State University Chancellor Charlie Reed. The discussion focused on progress made since at our winter meeting regarding key policies for increasing the number of students who graduate college- and career-ready, which is the goal of BHEF's College Readiness, Access, and Success initiative (CRI).

One key component of that agenda is the Common Core State Standards, which were released last month by the Council of Chief State School Officers and Linn's NGA Center for Best Practices. Linn indicated that adoption of the standards is moving more rapidly than anticipated, with 35-plus states expected to have adopted them by mid-August. He called on BHEF members to urge governors to adopt the standards and work to ensure that aligned curricula and assessments are adopted. In addition, he called on BHEF's academic members to redesign teacher preparation and professional development programs to support the new standards.

Molly Broad spoke about the role that ACE and higher education have played in helping to vet the standards, noting the biggest issue was whether the graduation standard in math should be calculus or statistics, with the panel selecting statistics. In addition, Broad noted that ACE is actively involved in both groups currently competing on the Common Core Assessments.

Finally, it was noted that the National Research Council is ready to release its proposed science standards for comment. Once comments are received, Achieve will work with stakeholders to advance the adoption of these standards by a new process that is not currently part of the Common Core Standards Initiative. This new process will require business leadership to ensure adoption.

Plenary Sessions Summary

Plenary Session I: The Obama Administration's Blueprint for "Fixing NCLB" in the Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)

The goal of this session was to gain insights about the Obama administration's plans for the reauthorization of ESEA and reforming No Child Left Behind. BHEF member and CRI Working Group Co-Chair David Jones, Jr. opened the session by saying that the P-12 and higher education communities in his home state of Kentucky were not aligned and that he is counting on the common core standards to help address this problem at home and across the country. Jones then introduced Deputy Secretary of Education Anthony Miller, who commended BHEF and its members for their focus and went on to give an overview of the department's education reform efforts, which started with the Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

He called for more effective teachers and leaders and accountability as part of the overall reform effort, saying you cannot "fire your way to the top," and said the problem of "dropout factories that exist around the country" must be addressed by strategically building momentum. Miller applauded BHEF's efforts in Louisville as a model for business-led community action.

Recognizing that the reinvestment bill was one-time money, Miller said that the administration is trying to build these reforms into the future budget. For instance, his department is slated to receive a budget increase while other agencies will be taking hits. But since the federal government only provides 10% of the funding for education, and states provide the rest, competitive vehicles such as Race to the Top that are now in place need to move reform. Miller called upon BHEF to support the administration's effort to advance education reform through the reauthorization of ESEA.

Plenary Session II: Maintaining U.S. Economic Competitiveness: Reauthorizing the America COMPETES Act

This session featured a presentation by U.S. Department of Energy Undersecretary for Science Steven Koonin that delved into the bigger picture of sustainability and maintaining U.S. competitiveness. His presentation generated a lively discussion amongst members.

Koonin presented a compelling case for the passage of The America COMPETES Act , including its significant investment in R&D. The House-passed its version of the bill in late May, and it builds on the 2007 legislation by keeping NSF, DOE and NIST budgets on track for doubling by 2017, and increases levels of support for STEM education. In addition, the bill specifically seeks to increase the number of students who earn STEM degrees and choose STEM careers, and contains a number of new provisions that would seek to transform STEM undergraduate and graduate education. The Senate is now working on its own version of the bill.

Koonin, who was introduced by former BHEF Chair Mark Wrighton, chancellor, Washington University in St. Louis, gave an in-depth presentation about the challenges of sustainability, noting that global development and population growth will place unprecedented strains on resources.

While Koonin noted that the U.S. continues to lead the world in many areas, the developing world is building newer, more efficient infrastructure and has a workforce that is well suited to address critical challenges. Koonin pointed to areas where the U.S. is loosing its competitive edge – manufacturing, energy innovation, and high performance computing (HPC). Once the unquestioned leader in HPC, China is poised to surpass the U.S by the end of the year. However, Koonin told BHEF members that if right policy is development and implemented, "the innovation will follow without having to try too hard." COMPETES and other bill pending in Congress would lay such a policy foundation and make critical investments in R&D.

Business Meeting

In between the two June 25 plenary sessions, members also held their annual business meeting, at which time they were informed of several actions taken the previous day by the ExCom. For example, the ExCom approved BHEF's approach for the coming year, building upon its strategic direction and advocacy agenda.

The ExCom also approved two proposed amendments to BHEF's bylaws and elected the new Vice Chairman Brit Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland, and a new slate of candidates for BHEF's Executive Committee. The meeting also marked the transition of BHEF's senior leadership, with David Skorton, president of Cornell University, stepping down as BHEF chairman and Bill Swanson, chairman and CEO of Raytheon Company, succeeding him to the chairmanship.

Bill Swanson recognized retiring members: Dick Ferguson, CEO and Chairman of ACT; and Warren Baker, president of the California Polytechnic State University.

The Business Meeting also allowed the opportunity for committee chairs to provide updates:

David Jones gave the CRI report, saying that the member-led projects in Philadelphia Louisville have made significant gains since the last ExCom report.
Bill Swanson and Warren Baker gave the STEM report, saying that BHEF and its partners have make significant progress in advancing the use of the BHEF U.S. STEM Education Model by policymakers and funders, and in adapting the model to examine a range of issues that are critical to strengthening STEM education, launching several new strands of work.
Chris Roe, on behalf of Lee Todd, gave the Finance and Audit Committee report, saying that BHEF is in stable financial condition for the current fiscal year (FY10) and largely is on target to meet budget projections for revenue and expenditures. The Executive Committee approved a budget request of $1,862,500 for FY11.
Brian Fitzgerald gave the Executive Director's report.
Bill Swanson gave the Membership Committee report, saying that midway through FY10, BHEF has achieved a net increase in membership and has been weathering the recession extremely well.